Pensacola Council Keeps Mask Mandate In Place Until Next Year

December 12, 2020

The City of Pensacola’s mask mandate will remain in place a couple of months into 2021.

The city council unanimously approved approved extending the mask ordinance and state of emergency through the end of February.

The current mandate, approved by the city council in late June, requires face coverings by employees and patrons in Pensacola businesses. The ordinance applies only within the city limits of Pensacola, not in unincorporated Escambia County.

The ordinance includes exceptions that include young children, medical conditions and persons that are eating and drinking.

Pensacola can’t enforce the mask ordinance. An executive order issued in September by Gov. Ron DeSantis banning mask mandate enforcement by local governments.

Comments

20 Responses to “Pensacola Council Keeps Mask Mandate In Place Until Next Year”

  1. Livefreeordie on December 15th, 2020 9:23 am

    @bob

    Covering my face is my business. Don’t like it? Stay home. Wear your own.

  2. Bob on December 14th, 2020 6:11 am

    @JimC

    Refusing to wear a mask in a pandemic is like driving drunk. It’s irresponsible, it’s negligent, and it’s selfish. I think it’s extremely disappointing that there are so many people in our community that would rather let their neighbors die a slow, painful death rather than put a piece of cloth over their mouth for five minutes while they do a grocery run.

  3. JimC on December 13th, 2020 2:39 pm

    And I thought no one read my comments! LOL!
    To the mask enthusiasts:
    1.) I never judge anyone who chooses to wear a mask.
    2.) There are a host of reasons not to wear a mask.
    3.) A couple of points to consider:
    – If I wear a mask, is it to protect you or me?
    If the answer is to protect you, the you must not have much faith in the mask you’re wearing.
    If the answer is to protect me, the that’s my responsibility, not yours. (Aside from the disgust with politicalization of this illness, I’ve already had it and am neither contagious nor susceptible, so I’m not wearing one to meet your needs.)

  4. Jane Doe on December 13th, 2020 2:23 pm

    If someone doesn’t have a mask on, so what, it is their choice. Everyone just take care of yourself the way you think you should. What other people do is no concern to me.

  5. SueB on December 13th, 2020 9:12 am

    How do you people feel when you are around people who do not wear a mask? I stay away from them and wonder why they don’t understand the importance of wearing mask (not below the nose), keeping distance, & see the reports from our local hospitals on COVID-19. How many people do you know that celebrated Thanksgiving with family members that are now in the hospital with COVID?

  6. Jizmo on December 12th, 2020 7:21 pm

    Masks work great if you are the type that cough, spit, or sneeze directly on someone. Otherwise read the disclaimers on the mask you just purchased

  7. Balance is key on December 12th, 2020 5:56 pm

    While I do not like a mask mandate, I am ok with it as long as it allows business to conduct normal business. I’m fine being told to slip a mask on while on personal property if it’s the difference between us and all the lock down states. Lock downs are failures. However, while in public I think mask should be up to the individual. I’m great-full the governor had the foresight not to shut down again. We just have to push through it until everyone is either vaccinated or develops natural immunity, just like most viruses. Makes me laugh, because I see people in a mask but I hit up a public rest room and half the folks don’t wash their hands before leaving. I’m sure mask will save us all. Just plain nasty, i’m personally more concerned about hand washing then breathing the same air as someone else.

  8. That dude on December 12th, 2020 4:28 pm

    Context alert: The common cold hasn’t killed over 300,000 Americans this year, so there’s that.

  9. Kane on December 12th, 2020 3:27 pm

    @JimC Okay I am not the type to make baseless claims. I will provide some links to facts that you can verify yourself. I had to dig though charts and graphs to get good reliable relatable information.

    Flu deaths in the U.S for this season 2019-2020 so far is at 22,000

    Covid-19 deaths for the U.S. 2019-2020 so far is over 294,000

    All of these statistics comes from the CDC here have some links!

    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

    https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days

    These are facts not suggestions not opinions just facts.

  10. Kane on December 12th, 2020 3:09 pm

    @JImC the death rate for covid 19 is higher then the common cold.

    @John Sorry bud but a Privately Owned Business is just that Private meaning it can make up almost any rule it wants and if you want to do business with said company you have to follow their rules like it or not. That includes wearing a mask if they desire you to.

    It’s like someone comes to your home and you have a house rule of lets say “No shoes allowed in the house”. Well your visitor has two choices remove their shoes or don’t come in to your house. If they choose to tell you they aren’t removing their shoes and try to come in any way what would your reaction be? I’m betting you wouldn’t let them in and you would expect the local authorities to back you up on that.

  11. No Excuses on December 12th, 2020 2:57 pm

    @JimC: I am with you! I personally respect other people and wear a mask, etc., but I don’t think closing businesses, schools or anything else is the right of the City Council or the Government of Florida.

    Use common sense people. I’d also be curious to see the data on the spread of other air borne illnesses since the masks have been worn. Who gets sick and who doesn’t? Not just for Corona Virus 19. I noticed that I haven’t had a cold since late last year, and since I teach school, I usually have had two or three by now.

  12. Josh Jones on December 12th, 2020 1:52 pm

    @JimC:
    Not wearing masks is what got Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties where they are today: higher positive rates than anywhere else in FL.
    Additionally, colds typically don’t kill people.

  13. Chris on December 12th, 2020 12:50 pm

    You don’t “think” our ICU bed capacity will be in danger here? Try looking it up.
    ICU Beds available stats: https://bi.ahca.myflorida.com/t/ABICC/views/Public/ICUBedsHospital?%3AshowAppBanner=false&%3Adisplay_count=n&%3AshowVizHome=n&%3Aorigin=viz_share_link&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Aembed=y&%3Amobile=true

    If that doesn’t copy: go to myflorida.com and look up ICU bed capacity in real time. The current available bed space in Escambia county is 2%. Hope you don’t have a heart attack and need a bed that’s not available.

    Wearing a mask isn’t going to hurt you & I’m not going to argue your non-scientific nonsense. It is a matter of courtesy & may save the life of someone you love. My son who travels all over the world will tell you that Asian countries wear masks all of the time out of concern they will spread illness to someone else. What would Jesus do?

  14. JimC on December 12th, 2020 12:24 pm

    @LAT The council is a function of the City of Pensacola, and not Escambia County.
    Additionally, Governor DeSantis has prevented over reaching local authorities from unduly punishing those who take their own health and well-being seriously, as well as the right to manage their own health. Florida’s economy is doing better than most States because his executive order has allowed Commerce to proceed at a pace much higher than those blue states that have basically shut things down. Encouraging people to wear masks is okay, but threatening jail time and levying fines is ridiculous. We don’t do that sort of thing for people who have colds, and yet that is also a Coronavirus that is easily spread.

  15. LAT on December 12th, 2020 11:37 am

    Sounds like the citizens of Escambia county need to hold the council accountable, and elect in new leadership.

  16. john on December 12th, 2020 11:12 am

    I personally wear a mask when in confined spaces around others, and carry hand sanitizer. I consider myself very conservative. We do not need anyone telling us when to put on or take off the face mask. A business owner should be allowed to make the decision on mask or not. The original mandate was to slow the spread as not to overwhelm the medical system. I don’t think we were ever in any danger of doing that around here. At least I haven’t seen the data to suggest so. We are very fortunate to have Governor DeSantis leading right now.

  17. Lillian Brackin on December 12th, 2020 11:05 am

    Thanks, Pensacola. I wish it was happening threw out our state.

  18. jean on December 12th, 2020 10:53 am

    Thank you Pensacola Council.
    Governor DeSantis is not doing anyone any good.

  19. Josh Jones on December 12th, 2020 10:16 am

    Governor Desantis’ order was not in the best interests of Florida residents. It was a signal to his boss that he is onboard with him.

  20. JTV on December 12th, 2020 6:05 am

    Thank you Governor DeSantis.